This is a few days old, but it’s important.
A March ’05 publication by the US Army confirms that US soldiers used white phosphorus offensively in the Battle of Fallujah. This directly contradicts statements made by the U.S. Department ofDefense and by the US State Department.
The white phosphorus hits and disperses into an indiscriminately lethal cloud with a kill zone approximately a quarter of a mile wide — over a tenth of a mile in all directions. Although white phosphorus often has no effect on clothes, when it makes contact with a person’s skin, it will burn it down to the bone. If the gas is inhaled, it will blister the throat and lungs, causing rapid suffocation, burning the body from the inside.
Here is the story on artillery use from the March/April edition of the US Army’s "Field Artillery Magazine"
However, the pdf has disappeared from the Army site, and I can’t find a version online. Anyone have it cached? (I did read it a few days back, it’s genuine.)
And despite pathetic justifications from the right saying, well, white phosporous is just for illumination (I guess they forgot it melts people from the inside), it’s also illegal.
In the Battle Book of the US Army Command and General Staff College, Section 5-11 (b4), it states:
(4) Burster Type White phosphorus (WP M110A2) rounds burn with intense heat and emit dense white smoke. They may be used as the initial rounds in the smokescreen to rapidly create smoke or against material targets, such as Class V sites or logistic sites. It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets.
Thanks to Radical Glascow for the nudge on Fallujah.
Hi Bob,
I’m trying to push this into the open as much as possible, our self righteous leaders must be made to admit this and face the consequences..
Thanks for the link. Keep at it the pendulum is swinging we can make it swing a lot more to the left.
The other big development in this story is that in its denial, the US military confirmed the use of MK-77 munitions(a more modern version of Napalm.)
I guess they figured people would attribute the burned bodies to that, like it’s any better.
Story link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051108/ts_nm/iraq_usa_weapons_dc
If that link doesn’t work, the one on my blog works.
http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/2005/11/confirmation-of-white-phosphorus-use.html
The site http://www.informationclearinghouse.info is as good as they come.
Behold the Geneva Convention.
Please pass the preceding link around to all antiwar blogs you frequent. The relevant excerpt is as follows:
“Protocol III – Geneva Conventions
…
Article 2.
…
2. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.”
The “White Phosphorous is not a banned munition” meme is already taking root in the print media. We must shame them into telling the truth about this.
The Ape Man
Our efforts on this one must continue with ever greater force. Letters to the papers, raise the matter at union meetings, phone in to radio shows, TV shows, social gatherings, car parks and supermarkets, anywhere where there are people. We should make sure that there is no place that dosn’t have this information